I live in a world of words. When I close my eyes, I see serifs and quotation marks, perfectly printed letters and the dull heaviness of an em dash– I comprise and am comprised of my own little catalogue of stories.
Learning the business side of things was overwhelming, at first. I fell in love with the rules of the English language, and my internship which allows me to delve into them, but had to quickly learn in the first few weeks of my summer just how subjective of a world I lived in. Words that sound positively fantastic in my brain may not provide the best backbone to a narrative arc, and vice versa. I began to see that negotiating words and stories and identities was the work of the editor, not the writer. Writers craft ideas, whittle language, stir the pots of their consciousnesses, and add to the primordial soup– so to speak. They are the ones who push the boulder down the mountain. And editors are given the task to push it back up, in a straight line, while minding every crevice and bump along the way. I do love to write, but editing is a balancing act I would love to master.
I still have so much to learn, but I can already see my instinct improving. There is something so meditative about poring over writing and parsing language for impurities.
The editors and staff at One Story are also teachers the four days per week the interns are in. We are a boisterous group of nerds: Tony, from Williams College, Ian, from Pomona College, Leah, from NYU, and me. Adina Talve-Goodman, managing editor, is in charge of interns, but she will be ‘handing over’ supervisor duties to Amanda Faraone; both are former interns at One Story Inc. Maribeth Batcha and Hannah Tinti are the editors-in-chief and co-founders of the non-profit; I have yet to meet Hannah, but Maribeth is an absolutely lovely example of a writer who can also be successful managing the business of things. Patrick Ryan, the editor of One Story’s sister publication One Teen Story is in on Wednesdays; his witticism and perspectives are invaluable to us fledgling interns.
On Wednesdays and Thursdays we have editorial meetings: discussions about what is upcoming or what needs to be resolved. There are also formal conversations about pieces that we are either interested in publishing or not sure about. These discussions are formatted quite like creative writing workshops. It is so interesting to see a direct use of my time in English class!
The office is a lovely space, full of colours and books and caffeine. I am really enjoying a professional (or not so professional), indie, work environment. I hope to learn a lot this summer. Strike that: I will learn a lot this summer.
